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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Wolf Lahti's LiveJournal:
| Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 9:16 pm | In the Sargasso Sea of scripting I’m dead in the water on my screenplay adaptation of one of my novellas. The barebones outline stalls at what I now recognize to be a flat point on the story, the gut-wrenching tension of Llyr going off camera and Miriam accessing a database. Real drama that. The sequence works reasonably well in novel form--but as wise folks have said, a film is not a book, and what works in a book does not necessarily work in a movie. Novels tend to be a lot more internal, no matter how cinematic their presentation may be. I've made a number of changes to the form, some of which would improve even the novella version, but this impasse has me stumped, at least for the time being. Being bound to a two-person POV doesn't make resolving this any easier, either. I need a fresh wind to ferry me out of the sargassum. | ||||||||||
| Monday, April 21st, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 4:21 pm | Today's quotation "The conservation movement is a breeding ground of communists and other subversives. We intend to clean them out, even if it means rounding up every birdwatcher in the country." | ||||||||||
| Monday, April 7th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 6:47 pm | Grrrrr!!! I was looking forward to the “Introduction to Martial Arts” (offered through the local community college), but when I showed up there for the first class (finding the dojo despite it not having an address on the outside of the building), I found it composed of a bunch of belts in an obviously long-established group. Evidently, I was supposed to just join in somehow while the sensei led them through their already well-practiced routines. Excuse me? Has the definition of “introduction” changed while I was looking the other way? The best I can hope for is a 50% refund, even though the class was not as represented in the course catalog. I'm feeling disappointed, let down, and self-righteously pissed. I need an angrier icon for posts like this. | ||||||||||
| 4:30 pm | Now we need a 'comprise' quiz
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| Friday, April 4th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 3:51 pm | Joining the twenty-first century Ack! I just ordered a new computer to replace my seven-year-old vintage machine. It should be here in 4 to 10 days (and no doubt Apple tomorrow will announce a replacement model with some fancy, more-powerful upgrade). The puter? A 24-inch iMac 2.8GHz Extreme with 4 gigs of RWM and a 500-gig hard drive I vacillated a long time between this and an eight-core Mac Pro with a GeForce 8800 GT graphics card, but that would have been another $700, not including the cost of a display (which of course on the iMac is built in). I like to think I need the very best, but of course I don't like to have to pay for it. The cost is absorbed by a nice computer-purchase policy they offer at work: They pay for approved hardware and software, and I pay it back over two years - interest-free - through paycheck deductions. Relatively painless. Now I'll finally be able to play Halo2! | ||||||||||
| Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 6:52 pm | Ask yourself... If I were a color, what color would I be? dark teal What shape would I be? dodecahedron (Ah, but everybody says dodecahedron.) If I were a movement, what movement would I be? I dunno. Something to do with a subducted tectonic plate, maybe. What sound? A-minor with a Major seventh sustained What animal? Gosh... Let me think about that one... What song? "Rich Man, Poor Man" by Peter Yarrow What number? (sqrt (5) + 1) / 2 What car? BMW Z4 What piece of furniture? A Greene-and-Greene variation on the Morris chair (with a green cushion) What food? Cream-of-potato soup with fresh-ground pepper, Parmesan cheese, and a sprinkle of cayenne | ||||||||||
| Thursday, March 20th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 11:26 am | Not this year This will be the first time in over twenty years that I will not be attending Norwescon, more than half of that as a pro guest. This is due to a number of reasons, the main one being that we cannot afford it. Other reasons relate mostly to sloppy administration. They insist on misspelling my name (having found at least four "creative" ways of doing so), losing other information on my account, and failing to register me for the two panels that I always end up doing anyway. This year I didn’t even get a reading. And although they did invite Carol as a pro guest, she did not get the shamanic workshop she wanted to run, the only reason she wanted to attend as a pro. The Art Show has been run in so haphazard a manner since the change in its administration that two years ago I gave up on displaying my work there. The mess with the hotel union strike and more-restrictive hotel rules only confirm that I've made the right choice in not attending. Also, Norwescon no longer really fills a need for me--I usually spend much of the event wandering around looking for something to keep me entertained. People I would like to spend time with move in their own circles that are so close-knit that they don't even notice how they exclude people. My life keeps getting smaller. This wasn’t supposed to happen. | ||||||||||
| Saturday, March 8th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 7:38 am | Well, they got the date right
Wrong, wrong, yes. Wrong, yes, yes, wrong. Yes, not really, maybe, yes, no. Wrong, nope, not really, not really, nope. | ||||||||||
| Saturday, February 9th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 2:57 pm | I'm about the least political person possible-- so how did it happen that I am now the Obama delegate to the county caucus? (Can state and national be far behind?) I merely went to the local caucus with no intention but to cast my vote and see the democratic process in action (ewww--messy!), and I ended up giving a completely unplanned speech that was evidently well received. Does this mean I'll have to relearn to tie a necktie? | ||||||||||
| 2:51 pm | Who *are* all these people? ( Who comments the most on this journal? ) | ||||||||||
| Monday, January 28th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 4:29 pm | Preferable to the usual Winter rain On the way home from work, I heard a rather interesting weather forecast on Seattle's classical station, KING FM 98.1: We're in for "3 inches to 3 feet" of snow this evening, the accumulation depending on where in the area you happen to be. In the past hour, we've had stinging, almost invisible snow; neve (pellets, kind of like soft hail); and huge, conglomerate flakes the diameter of softballs. Right now, there's a lull in what's coming down. The dogs and wolf, of course, love the snow, but the horse has been pretty frisky too, even if it does make it harder for her to graze. The cats don't even want to think about going out. | ||||||||||
| Saturday, January 26th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 10:07 am | |||||||||||
| 9:20 am | Run! It's a genre piece! A young girl wearing a little red riding hood was on her way with a basket of goodies to her grandma's house when she took a shortcut through the woods and soon came across the cottage of the three bears. She went inside to ask directions but found no one home, although on the table were three bowls labeled "Doc", "Happy", and "Grumpy". The first bowl was filled with straw, the second bowl was filled with sticks, and the third bowl held a single red building brick. "Well, if my name isn't Rumplestiltskin!" the little girl exclaimed, whereupon she pricked her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and immediately fell into a deep slumber. When she awoke, she found herself in the top room of a high tower. Outside the window, someone was calling, so that I may climb the golden stair." She looked out the window and spied a small green frog mounted on a white stallion. He was dressed in a tunic with a sword and a pistol by his side. She asked him, "Are you going to Scarborough Fair?" The frog answered, "No, I've just come from Saint Ives, and traffic on the road was bumper to bumper." The with a trace of impatience, he added, "Are you going to let down your hair on not? I'm on a pretty tight schedule. I need to retrieve a princess' golden ball from a garden pool in a few hours." "To begin with", said the little girl, "my name isn't Rapunzel. And I don't see how letting my hair down would help you climb anything. I don't see any golden stair around here--as a matter of fact, I don't see any way at all out of this bloody tower." "You could climb the beanstalk", suggested the frog, and he pointed out the mass of greenery growing alongside the window that the little girl had at first mistaken for ivy. She thanked him and, as he rode off, climbed out the window and began pulling herself up the beanstalk. It ascended quickly into the clouds where she came across a giant's castle. As she was crossing the bridge over the moat to go inside, a deep, rumbling voice from below demanded, "Who goes on my bridge?" "Who wants to know?" the little girl demanded right back. "I'm the troll who guards the bridge, and if you're a billy-goat, I'm going to eat you up!" "Oh to hell with this shit!" the little girl said, and she went back the way she had come. It was then she noticed a glass slipper lying on the ground. How odd, she thought, that someone could lose such an uncomfortable-looking piece of footwear and not notice. "Oh my!" declared a voice. The little girl looked up and saw an orange-stripped tabby cat wearing nothing but two hip-length black leather boots. "That slipper is just so lovely, I simply must have it! I'll trade you one of my boots for it." The little girl handed over the slipper, and the cat, with some effort, pulled off the big leather boot and gave it to her. He put his rear paw into the slipper and struck a pose. "How do I look?" he asked. "They don't exactly match", said the girl honestly. "Oh, pshaw!" said the cat. "Balance in fashion is so overrated. Asymmetry is all the rage now, don't you know!" and he strode off, purring to himself contentedly. By now, the little girl was getting thirsty, so she dipped the boot into a stream, and when she pulled it out, she found she had caught a fish. The fish said, "If you spare my life and release me, I will grant you any wish you desire, for I am a magic fish." "All I want", said the little girl, "is to get to my grandma's house." "Granted!" said the fish, and the little girl was instantly whisked on a rainbow-colored cloud right to the door of her grandmother's cottage. She went inside and found her grandmother sitting up in bed. "What big eyes you have", the little girl said. "That's because I'm surprised you ever got here at all", her grandma said. "You're late!" "Not only that, but I seem to have misplaced my basket of goodies. I must have left it in the tower." "Well, do go back and get it. I have a gentleman caller coming over soon, and I can always count on him being hungry as a wolf." So the little girl went out into the forest--and I cannot begin to tell you all the marvelous adventures she had along the way. | ||||||||||
| Friday, January 25th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 10:56 am | |||||||||||
| Friday, January 4th, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 7:46 pm | Have you ever Kipled? Are you cub or whelp or kit? Are you young and strong and fit? Have you senses weatherwise? Can you read the bristling skies? Do you brave the fall of night and heed the shadows calling you? Or do you jump at noise in fright and not investigate the new? Are you brave, but not unduly? Are you bold but not unruly? Do you understand the need to honor elders and them heed? It’s time to run—the hunt is up! The time for caution now is dust. So shed your milk teeth, mewling pup. Sharpen fang, and run with us! | ||||||||||
| Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 | |||||||||||
| 11:49 am | New Year's resolution My resolution in 2007 was 1280 by 1024. I'll find out what 2008's will be when I get my new computer, probably sometime in late January. | ||||||||||
| Thursday, December 27th, 2007 | |||||||||||
| 11:26 pm | End-of-the-year survey 1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? I’ve done it all. 2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I ate more rice. 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? I think some shirt-tail relative did, so... no, no one close 4. Did anyone close to you die? Not that I am aware of 5. What countries did you visit? Just stuck in the US 6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Independence 7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Um... 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? This presumes I achieved something. 9. What was your biggest failure? Achieving nothing 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I ran my finger over the spinning blade of a plate jointer. That was in July, and I still can’t play guitar without excruciating pain. :P 11. What was the best thing you bought? shrug 12. Whose behavior merited celebration? shrug 13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? George Bush 14. Where did most of your money go? Debt and interest on the debt :P 15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Not much 16. What song will always remind you of 2007? shrug 17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? sadder thinner or fatter? about the same, unfortunately richer or poorer? poorer 18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Living. Creating. 19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Regretting 20. How will you be spending Christmas? Tolerating 21. How will you be spending New Year’s Eve? shrug 22. Did you fall in love in 2007? Heh 23. How many one-night stands? Who writes these things? 24. What was your favorite TV program? Jeopardy is about the only thing I watch with any regularity. 25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? That’s rather juvenile. 26. What was the best book you read? Watership Down. Yes, it took me a while to get around to it. 27. What was your greatest musical discovery? “Ordinary Miracle” and Jonathan Coulton’s “Test Assessment Report” 28. What did you want and get? Nothing 29. What did you want and not get? A sense of purpose 30. What was your favorite film of this year? Flushed Away or Casino Royale - flip a coin. 31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Don’t recall; probably nothing much. Older than dirt but younger than rocks. 32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Besides winning the Lottery or finding a sense of purpose? I dunno. 33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? I don’t think I’m in the demographic for this survey. 34. What kept you sane? This question, too, presumes. 35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Uh... 36. What political issue stirred you the most? Eh... 37. Who did you miss? Price 38. Who was the best new person you met? This, too, presumes. 39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007: Stop thinking you have plenty of time. You do not. 40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. “To get on home with the dawn to find just an empty room-- Could I stand the pain? I really don’t think so.” | ||||||||||
| Thursday, December 6th, 2007 | |||||||||||
| 5:41 pm | She walks in Winter “Eldon saw her. He was coming home from helping Derrick get his wagon out of a ditch, and he saw a woman walking over the hills. The sun was setting, and it was bitter cold though there wasn’t a trace of wind. Eldon was warm enough, you know, from the exertion of walking through the drifts, but he wondered what she doing out in the bush like that. It seemed too cold for anyone to be out for just a walk, and it was far from any house. “It didn’t seem she was lost. Something about the way she held herself told Eldon that. Still, it seemed only neighborly to offer help if she needed it, and as he got closer, that’s what he did. Then she turned and looked at him. “She didn’t say anything—just looked at him. It was all Eldon could do to turn away and stagger home. One would’ve thought he’d been struck by lightning. For three days, he didn’t say a word—not to his wife, not to anyone else. Finally, he told what had happened. Some folks thought he was touched, but others knew better. They knew who that woman was. “Eldon recovered after a while. And in Spring and Summer, you’d think there wasn’t a thing wrong. But come Autumn, he gets restless, kind of itchy. He watches the sky for turning of the weather, more than is normal, even for a famer in the north. And when the snow finally comes, he goes out at dusk and wanders the hills. “Other people have seen her, but always from a distance, never close enough to look into her eyes. “Eldon has never found her again.” | ||||||||||
| Thursday, November 15th, 2007 | |||||||||||
| 7:41 pm | The important people in your life Part A 1. Name the three wealthiest people in the world. 2. Name the last three Heisman trophy winners. 3. Name the last three winners of the Miss America. 4. Name the last three Pulitzer Prize winners. 5. Name the last three World Series winners. Part B 1. Name three teachers who aided your journey through school. 2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time. 3. Name three people who have taught you something worthwhile. 4. Name three people who have made you feel appreciated and special. 5. Name three people you enjoy spending time with. Think about it. | ||||||||||
| Friday, November 9th, 2007 | |||||||||||
| 4:56 pm | Is there a way to turn off those raggafrazzin' LJ SnapShot previews that do nothing but muck up what I'm trying to look at? Gads, but those are irritating! | ||||||||||
